Purple Tank w/ Ich & HLLE

nate_m

nate_m

Member
I've got my work cut out for me.
My PT came with significant HLLE from the LFS. Didn't know it was HLLE until he got ich and I started looking at all the disease pictures on this forum.
Anyway, I moved my 4 fish into the HT and have started to slowly drop the salinity to 1.009. I'm about half way there after 24 hours at about 1.017. Tomorrow night I should stabilize at 1.009. The reason I'm posting is that my PT is turning very pale. Loosing all his color vibrant purple color. All fish are eating normally and everything else seems ok.
Is it normal for him to turn pale. Does the HLLE cause this or is it ick?
Thanks for the help and advice.
- Nate
 
nate_m

nate_m

Member
I've got my work cut out for me.
My PT came with significant HLLE from the LFS. Didn't know it was HLLE until he got ich and I started looking at all the disease pictures on this forum.
Anyway, I moved my 4 fish into the HT and have started to slowly drop the salinity to 1.009. I'm about half way there after 24 hours at about 1.017. Tomorrow night I should stabilize at 1.009. The reason I'm posting is that my PT is turning very pale. Loosing all his color vibrant purple color. All fish are eating normally and everything else seems ok.
Is it normal for him to turn pale. Does the HLLE cause this or is it ick?
Thanks for the help and advice.
- Nate
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
What are you using to measure salinity and have you been checking pH? If you have never done hypo before, please be sure to read the post on hyposalinity in the FAQ Thread at the top of this forum.
Is the HT just set up?
 
nate_m

nate_m

Member
HT just setup for this emergency. Watching for ammonia/nitrite spike and have water aging to dilute to keep everyone healthy. Bought some 8.2 buffer for the PH but last night it was still ok.
Currently using the plastic hydrometer, BUT i have the refractometer on order and will be here in 2 days. Also ordered some Formula2 pellets and some selcon to feed to the purple tang and the cortez angel who looks like he has some HLLE starting.
Have been feeding them a frozen cube and sheets of algae. They don't look emaciated to me.
I am curious at what point ich starts dying off? When the salinity hits 1.009 does it start dying? Why does ich, inverts, crabs, etc die but not the fish?
Thanks for the advice.
I read that second link and thats why i decided on the selcon and formula2 pellets.
Thanks again!
- Nate
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Take a look at the FAQ Thread and the post there on ich. The whole life cycle of this parasite is explained. The parasite must actually drop off of the fish first, so, to answer your question, even with the salinity down, you may still see ich for a few days. That is not a reason for concern. However, the plastic hydrometer is a poor choice.
 
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